Traverse cam lubrication



June 4, 1957 J. v. KEITH TRAVERSE CAM LUBRICATION Filed March 1, 1956 IINVENTOR. JOHN M KEITH ATTORNEY United States Patent TRAVERSE CAMLUBRICATION John V. Keith, Warwick, R. I., assignor to Universal WindingCompany, Cranston, R. L, a corporation of Massachusetts ApplicationMarch 1, 1956, Serial No. 568,773

5 Claims. (Cl. 1841) The present invention relates to a winding machineand more particularly relates to means for lubricating the traverse camon such a machine.

Winding machines for winding packages of textile material are old in theart and customarily include a rotating spindle that rotates the windingpackage of yarn or other filamentary material, and a yarn guide forreciprocating the strand of yarn longitudinally of the winding package.In one form of winding machine, the yarn guide is a reciprocating memberthat is traversed longitudinally of the winding package by means of acam. Present day textile manufacture often requires the winding of yarnat extremely high rates of speed, as for example, from 1,000 to 1,500yards per minute. These high winding speeds require extremely fastreciprocation of the yarn guide and this in turn requires the rapidrotation of the cam which reciprocates said guide. With the increase incam speeds, the need for adequate lubrication between the cam surfaceand the cam follower becomes increasingly important and also with theincrease in speed, proper and adequate lubrication becomes increasinglydifficult.

One object of the present invention is to provide means for lubricatingthe cam surface of a rapidly rotating cam.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means forsupplying lubricant to the cam surface of a multigroove barrel cam.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a barrel camincluding means for supplying lubricant to the cam groove therein.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the apparatus posessing theconstruction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which areexemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of theapplication of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be had to the accompanying description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a view of the cam and oiling means therefor of the presentinvention taken along the lines II of Fig. 2 and looking in thedirection of the arrows; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of Fig. 1 andlooking in the direction of the arrows.

The present invention comprises a cylindrical barrel cam having a camgroove formed in its periphery and adapted to reciprocate a camfollower. The cam is mounted for rotation in a housing that is providedwith a Well or sump adapted to hold a supply of lubricating oil. Anannular recess is formed in one end of the cam and a passageway extendsfrom the outer periphery of said recess to the bottom of the cam groove.A wick is positioned in the cam housing and is so positioned that oneend thereof is immersed in the pool of oil contained in the reservoir orsump and the other end is pressed into engagement with the surface ofsaid recess whereby a film of oil is continuously deposited on thesurface of said recess as the cam rotates. Centrifugal force causes thefilm of oil to move radially outwardly to the rim or periphery of therecess at which point it passes through the passageway and into thebottom of the cam groove where it is picked up by the cam follower. Anyexcess lubricant that reaches the cam groove is thrown off bycentrifugal force and is collected in the reservoir or sump for reuse.

Winding machines of the type which can advantageously use the presentinvention are disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,251,838, issued August 5,1941, to D. G. Baker, and my U. S. Patent application Serial No.224,491, filed May 4, 1951, now Patent No; 2,740,589. Inasmuch as thewinding machine structure involved isold and well known in the art andthe manner is which the present invention can be applied to suchstructures will be apparent to those skilled in the art, it is notdeemed necessary to show such Winding machine structure herein.

Referring now to the drawings, there is disclosed a. barrel cam 10fixedly secured to the shaft 12 for rotation thereby. Shaft 12 issuitably journaled for rotation in the housing 14 which in turn ismounted on the Winding machine, not shown. A cam groove 16 is formed byany suitable means in the surface of cam cylinder 10. Cam groove 16 ismade up of two parts, a lower narrow groove 18 and an upper Wide groove20. It will be recognized that cam 10 is generally similar to the camdisclosed in said above mentioned Patent No. 2,251,838 and that saidgroove is adapted to receive a composite type cam follower having alarger follower, which carries the load of reciprocating the yarn guide,received in the upper wide groove 20, and an elongated shoe typefollower engaged in the lower narrow groove 16 to guide the upper camfollower across the points where the cam groove crosses. It will beunderstood that the present invention can be applied to a cam havingonly a single groove formed therein. An annular recess 22 is formed inone end of said cam with its peripheral wall 24 having a smaller radiusthan the bottom of lower cam groove 18. The peripheral wall 24 of recess22 is concentric with shaft 12 but is not cylindrical or parallel withsaid shaft, instead it is sloped or inclined towards shaft 12 wherebythe opening of said recess is of smaller diameter then the base thereof.An opening or passageway 25 extends from the base of recess 22 andadjacent the peripheral wall 24 into the bottom of groove 18 at thepoint where cam groove 16 is nearest the end of the cylinder 10, i. e.the point where said groove reverses.

A well or sump 26, that may have any suitable configuration, is formedin the bottom of housing 14. An oil filler tube 28 is connected to anopening formed in sump 26 to provide a means for adding oil to saidsump. A wick 30 which may be of any suitable material, as for example,felt or cotton, has one end thereof suspended in said sump so as to bein contact with the pool of oil contained therein. The other end of wick30 is held in contact with the base of recess 22 by means of the bracket32. Bracket 32 is preferably formed from wire bent at one end to holdthe wick and secured at its other end to the bolts 34 which pass throughthe wall of housing 14.

The present invention operates in the following manner. Oil is absorbedby wick 30 and a film of oil is wiped onto the base of recess 22 as cam10 rotates. Rotation of cam 10 causes the oil thus transferred from wick30 to move radially outwardly along the base of said recess until it isstopped by the peripheral wall 24 whereupon it passes through theopening or passageway 25 and into the bottom of lower groove 18. The oilthat reaches the bottom of groove 18 is picked up by the cam follower asit reciprocates and is distributed throughout the length of the camgroove. Excess oil that accumulates in cam groove 16 will be thrown offby centrifugal forceand will impinge against the inner surfaces ofhousing 14 and will be collected in sump 26 for redistribution to thecam groove.

Since certain changes may be made in the above apparatus withoutdeparting from the'scope of the'invention herein involved, it isintended that all matter contained in the above description or showninthe accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not ina limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a traverse mechanism for a winding machine the combinationcomprising a housing, a shaft rotatably journaled in said housing, acylindrical member fixed to said shaft and in said housing, a camsurface formed on the periphery of said cylindrical member, said cylin-V drical member having a recess formed in one end there of and .apassageway connecting said recess and said cam surface, a sump adaptedto contain a lubricant formed in said housing, and a wick having aportion thereof contained in said sump and another portion thereof inengagement with the base of said recess.

2. In a traverse mechanism for a winding machine the combinationcomprising a housing, a shaft rotatably journaled in said housing, acylindrical member having a cam groove formed in its periphery fixed tosaid shaft for rotation therewith in said housing, said cylindricalmember, having a recess formed in one end thereof and a passagewayextending from said recess to said cam groove, a sump adapted to containa lubricant formed in said housing, and a wick having a portion thereofcontained in said sump and another portion thereof in engagement withthe base of said recess.

3. In a traverse mechanism for a winding machine the combinationcomprising a housing, a shaft rotatably journaled in said housing, acylindrical member having a cam groove formed in its periphery fixed tosaid shaft for rotation therewith in said housing, said cylindricalmember having an annular recess formed in one end thereof and apassageway extending from said recess adjacent the periphery thereof tosaid cam groove, said periphery of said recess being spaced radiallyinwardly from the bottom of said cam groove, a sump adapted to contain alubricant formed in said housing, and a wick having a portion thereofcontained in said sump and another portion thereof in engagement withthe base of said recess.

4. In a traverse mechanism as set forth in claim 3 wherein said sump isadapted to collect lubricant thrown from said cylindrical member.

5. In a traverse mechanism as set forth in claim 3 wherein the peripheryof said recess is inclined towards said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,028,176 Ambler June 4, 1912 1,708,164 Widell Apr. 9, 1929 2,253,327Delaval-Crow Aug. 19, 1941 2,278,663 Loeflier Apr. 7, 1942

